Phoenix police name officer who killed suspect

December 10, 2014

PHOENIX (AP) — Police on Tuesday released the name of a Phoenix police officer who shot and killed an unarmed drug suspect — a move that came just hours before activists and family members of the man planned a protest.

Officer Mark Rine, a seven-year veteran of the department, has been reassigned to nonenforcement duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation, police said.

Prosecutors will determine whether the 30-year-old officer will face criminal charges in the Dec. 2 shooting.

Police have said 34-year-old Rumain Brisbon, who was black, was unarmed when he was shot by a white officer investigating a tip that Brisbon was doing a drug deal inside an SUV in the parking lot of his apartment complex.

Brisbon failed to obey the officer’s commands and ran to an apartment where a struggle turned deadly, police said, noting that the officer mistook a pill bottle that Brisbon had been clutching in his pocket for the butt of a gun.

An autopsy has determined that Brisbon died from gunshot wounds to his torso.

The Rev. Jarrett Maupin, a civil rights advocate, said he and friends and family members of Brisbon were planning to rally and march in downtown Phoenix unless police released the name of the officer involved.

A call to Maupin on Tuesday wasn’t immediately returned.

Brisbon’s 9-year-old daughter led hundreds of protesters to police headquarters Monday night to demand transparency in the case.

The Arizona Republic reported that a police officer clad in riot gear shook the girl’s hand and said, “I’m sorry.”

The officer’s gesture “was nice, but it does not bring back her father. It doesn’t change things,” said Marci Kratter, an attorney for the Brisbon family.